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28 Mar 2016

VAYA FUTURO ARE MEXICO'S PREMIER SHOEGAZERS

Vaya Futuro are a Mexican noise-pop/shoegaze band from Tijuana, but currently based in Mexico City. With two released albums, a single produced by Ben Allen (Deerhunter) and a long list of shows, they’re making their fanbase grow faster and faster. There’s no doubt, they’re killing the Mexican indie industry right now. The band is formed by singer/guitarist Luis Aguilar, drummer Miguel Ahuage, guitarist Aldair Cerezo, bassist Lou Ros and keyboardist/chorist Armando Aguilar. Last Saturday, they offered a gig with A Love Electric and San Pedro el Cortez, and we had the chance to chat with them about their guilty pleasures and favorite things.

You guys have talked about your biggest influences - Blur, Deerhunter, Slowdive and many others. But now tell me… Do you have any guilty pleasures?

MA: They’re not guilty pleasures, I’m proud of them.

LA: Same here. I’ve got this theory that guilty pleasures doesn’t exist, but… If somebody else could consider them as guilty pleasures, what would them be?

MA: Alejandro Sanz, Gianluca, Jeanette… That kind of stuff.

LA: Metal. Some people laugh about it when I tell them. I used to be a metalhead, I liked Slayer, Kreator… That kind of stuff.

AA: There’s a playlist called “Vaya Trip”, and Miguel did it. He’s the king of guilty pleasures.

LA: When we’re on tour, and we’re on our van, Miguel is the one that puts that kind of music.

MA: Yeah, I mean… That’s what we listen to when we’re bored and tired of everything.

LA: I may have listened to a lot of pop music on Youtube.

MA: They’re not guilty, we appreciate them. When we’re recording, we’re like “hey, do you remember this song?” and we use them all in our creative process.

Now let’s talk about the favorite record of all of you.

AC: Souvlaki by Slowdive.

AA: The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips.

LR: It depends on the day. But today… I don’t know, I’m tired of listening to music because we’ve been recording all day, so we listened to Kabah.

MA: Blur’s discography. I love them all.

AA: Not all of them, you don’t like 13.

MA: I’ve got a problem with that album because it has my favorite Blur song.

You guys went to the NRMAL festival. How was it like to see Deerhunter? Have you seen them before?

ALL: Yes.

AC: It was the tightest Deerhunter’s show I’ve been to.

LA: My favorite was one in LA. I don’t remember the year, but they just released the Halcycon Digest. The sound was great.

And what was it like to see Slowdive?

LR: It was so cool. But the audio was terrible at the beginning.

LA: Yeah, we’ve been through that. And everyone’s like “BOO, COME ON. START ALREADY” and you’re like “Man… It’s the sound” and no one believes you. But yeah, same thing happened to Slowdive. At the end, the sound was amazing. The end was so loud, amazing. And they were not in a bad mood, they were so cool.

AA: Battles. We saw Battles and they were great. It blew my mind.

LA: But overall, the festival was great.

MA: Yeah, the curatorship was amazing. I didn’t know anyone, but the headliners were great.

What is the best concert you’ve been to?

LR: Slowdive in LA was great. That was awesome.

AC: Portishead at Corona Capital.

AA: Prince at Coachella… But it was Prince.

MA: I’m in between Slowdive in LA and Blur at El Plaza Condesa.

And what is the best you’ve played at?

ALL: Morelia.

MA: Morelia and El Plaza Condesa was great, we played with Los Planetas.

LR: And Corona Capital Week.

LA: Yeah! That one was great. The sound was incredible.

What do you guys like to eat?

LA: Sushi.

MA: Seafood.

LA: There’s a Japanese market called Mikasa, do you know what that is? It’s amazing.

Now tell me about your favorite place in Mexico City.

LA: [laughing] Mikasa

AA: We go there like three times a week. Every time we’ve got free time, we go there.

MA: And we go to drink pulque on Monday.

LA: And Café Dosis! It’s so tasty and it’s not expensive. But Mikasa is the best.. I also like being at my place, being alone and stuff.

You guys will be playing at Ruidofest in Chicago. Is it the first time you’ll play a Festival in the US?

MA: No, no. When we lived in Tijuana we used to play a lot in LA, and we get to play in some important venues from there. Like Echoplex, Glass House.. .Yeah, we’ve had nice experiences over there.

Which audience do you prefer? Mexican or American?

LR: It’s different. When it comes to people in general, the Mexican ambient is cooler. But if you want to sell merch, then it’s better in the US. They don’t care about expending ten dollars on a t-shirt.

MA: Yeah, they don’t even know you and they’re like “oh, they've got vinyls! I’m buying one!”. Their culture is like that, buying merch even if they don’t know you. That’s cool.

LA: But Mexico is cooler, yes.

MA: Of course, you got everything in here. People booing you if they don’t like you or something, happens everywhere. But yeah, Mexico makes you feel more alive.

At Nrmal Festival you met Christian and Nick from Slowdive. How was it like?

AC: We’ve met them before in LA, we sneaked into their after party. But… Yeah, they’re very nice.

MA: Rachel is very kind, too.

AC: Neil is more serious. He doesn’t like giving interviews and being in front of the cameras, but they’re all very nice.

MA: Christian remembered Luis, by the way.

LA: Hahaha, a long time ago, I found Christian on Facebook and I added him. I sent him a cover of his side project, Monster Movie, and he replied to me, saying it was cool that I knew about his other band and stuff. We became cyberbuddies after that, haha. And we gave Rachel a vinyl, but we don’t know if she has listened to it yet.

Would you make a quick playlist for us?

The Sun by The Flaming Lips

Made of Stone by The Stone Roses

Frecuency by Super Furry Animals

Desire Lines by Deerhunter

Wordless Chorus by My Morning Jacket

Ghost Ship by Blur

Before We Begin by Broadcast

untitled 04 | 08.14.2014 by Kendrick Lamar

Thundercat - 'Them Changes' by BRAINFEEDER

Work by Rihanna

Another Brick in The Wall by Pink Floyd

I still Want You by Richard Hawley

We took a picture and then they headed off to eat some pizza before the show, and so did I.

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Vapour Trail is an online music platform set up in 2014, run by Cal Cashin (@calcashin_). We like loud guitars, great characters, and beautiful music. Direct all questions to @vapourtrailblog or vapourtrailblog@gmail.com